Hina Rabbani Khar to face fatwa over affair with Bilawal Bhutto?

The Pakistan foreign minister is likely to be punished over her alleged love affair with the Bhutto scion.

Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar is likely to be punished over her alleged love affair with Bilawal Bhutto, son of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and late Benazir Bhutto, according to a report on Bangladeshi tabloid Weekly Blitz.

Referring to a Bangladeshi national daily, the tabloid report says that Islamist groups in Pakistan may now issue fatwa (religious decree) against Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar and chairman of ruling Pakistan People's Party [PPP] Bilawal Bhutto Zardari over their illicit romantic affairs, which is punishable crime under the existing law of Pakistan.

Quoting from The Daily Ittefaq, the report said, President Asif Ali Zardari may expel his young foreign minister, as she may earn bad name for the nation after the disclosure of her extra-marital affairs with Bilawal Bhutto. The Pakistani president is also deeply concerned about declaration of fatwa by country's influential Islamist groups, which would put the PPP government into total jeopardy.

Hina-Bilawal's alleged relationship has gone viral on the internet and in media. However, Bhutto and Khar families have not made any statement on the issue so far.

According to the report, Firoze Gulzar, husband of Hina Rabbani Khar has sought the mobile call list of all incoming and outgoing calls from his wife's mobile phones. This has given credence to the sensational report published in Weekly Blitz.

The alleged love story of this high-profile couple might turn filmy if Hina's husband Gulzar teams up with Zardari to put an end to this affair.

With so much of attention on this report, there are all sorts of rumours floating in the media. According to a report in Indian media, Hina is said to have told Zardari firmly to "mind his own business"!

The affair has also led to a distance between Zardari and his son. Since Zardari is opposed to son's involvement with a woman who is eleven years older than him and is a married woman with two daughters.

The tabloid reported that Hina has decided to end her marriage with Gulzar to settle down with Bilawal in Switzerland.

Gulzar, an industrialist from Punjab province, was quoted by Geo News channel on Thursday as saying that the campaign to malign his wife was "rubbish" that does not merit comment.

He further said there was "no premise for such trash" and that he would not offer any comment on "social media gossip".

There has been considerable speculation about the fate of Khar' s marriage to Gulzar since a little-known Bangladeshi tabloid claimed without any proof she was allegedly involved in a relationship with Bilawal Bhutto , son of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Someone from Pakistan on Twitter suggested that if Hina actually got married to Bilawal, "here is what her name would be- Hina Rabbani Khar Bhutto Zardari," while other person opined that Hina Rabbani Khar be relieved of her current duties and be given a new portfolio of "Ministry of Love Affairs".

Another man from Pakistan thinks "Hina Rabbani Khar is a bad influence on poor boy Bilawal! May God Protect this boy and safeguard him!"

A Pakistani on Twitter suggested that Hina be given a new portfolio of Ministry of Love Affairs.

One other person, also from Pakistan, added a political twist to all this, saying, "I wonder if such a thing was done by Imran Khan, what would..."